A mathematician solves an equation that splits the internet in two

A few days ago, a seemingly simple task was posted on Twitter. The post got 4,000 retweets, 15,000 likes, and nearly caused an internet war.

There were two answers to the tricky equation.

Half of the Network got a score of 16, the other half a score of 1. For five days, Twitter was mired in mutual accusations of illiteracy and proposals to freshen up the school curriculum.

Therefore, the publication Mail Online turned to assistant professor of mathematics from the Center for Advanced Spatial Analysis Hanne Frei. She got acquainted with the mathematical bone of contention and reported that the problem was the ambiguous writing of the equation.

“The brackets (2 + 2) are easy enough to figure out – that’s equal to four. But then what does the rest of the equation mean? Is it 8 ÷ (2 × 4) = 1? Or is it (8 ÷ 2) × 4 = 16?” she asked.

Therefore, in her opinion, both those who got the answer 16 and those who got 1 are right: it all depends on how you count.

First, different schools teach different procedures. Secondly, in such cases, in order to avoid misunderstandings, a fractional notation is usually used, and not a division sign.

In short, this is just a poorly written example. So your answer counts anyway.

By the way, what did you get?

Σχετικά με τα πάντα

Videos from internet

Related articles: